Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A21—BAKING; EDIBLE DOUGHS
  • A21C—MACHINES OR EQUIPMENT FOR MAKING OR PROCESSING DOUGHS; HANDLING BAKED ARTICLES MADE FROM DOUGH
  • A21C11/00—Other machines for forming the dough into its final shape before cooking or baking
  • A21C11/16—Extruding machines
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23P—SHAPING OR WORKING OF FOODSTUFFS, NOT FULLY COVERED BY A SINGLE OTHER SUBCLASS
  • A23P30/00—Shaping or working of foodstuffs characterised by the process or apparatus
  • A23P30/20—Extruding

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing food, more particularly for manufacturing cookies, and even more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a cookie manufacturing apparatus with a modular extruder capable of depositing extruded product at a speed substantially equal to the speed of a transport mechanism.
• cookie production was a mostly manual procedure. Individuals manually procured and extruded dough into a defined shape, and manually prepared the extruded materials for production. As is the case with most manual tasks, this procedure was slow, imprecise, and inefficient. With the advent of cookie machinery, materials may now be extruded automatically and deposited from the machine in a consistent and repetitive manner. Modern cookie machinery, however, has created new issues of concern. The modern cookie marketplace demands quantity, economical prices, and variety. For cookie making machines, these objectives translate into the manufacturing goals of versatility and speed. In cookie machinery known in the art, however, extruders are limited to an attached input feed system.
• one production task involves extruding dough and another involves extruding aerated creams such as whipped cream
• two different cookie making machines are usually utilized.
• some machines are somewhat adaptable to the speed of a conveyor belt or other transport mechanism, they involve moving a complete extruder, with all of its cables and tubes, making maintenance frequent, costly, and problematic.
• the invention is directed to a food manufacturing apparatus comprising a feed system for inputting a plurality of materials, an extruder and a cutting assembly.
• the extruder comprises a pump system and a rotating extrusion die removably connected to the pump system, wherein the rotating extrusion die comprises at least one product channel for receiving and extruding the plurality of materials.
• the cutting assembly comprises at least one groove and a wire attached through the groove.
• the feed system is attached to the extruder and the cutting assembly is located at a position to cut the extruded plurality of materials with the wire from the rotating extrusion die.
• the invention is additionally directed to a food manufacturing apparatus comprising a feed system for inputting a plurality of materials, an extruder and a cutting assembly.
• the extruder comprises a pump system and an extrusion die removably connected to the pump system, wherein the extrusion die comprises at least one product channel for receiving and extruding the plurality of materials.
• the cutting assembly comprises at least one groove and a wire attached through the groove.
• the feed system is removably attached to the extruder and the cutting assembly is located at a position to cut the extruded plurality of materials with the wire from the ex- trusion die.
• the invention is further directed to a food manufacturing apparatus comprising a feed system for inputting a plurality of materials, an extruder and a cutting assembly.
• the extruder comprises a pump system and an extrusion die removably connected to the pump system, wherein the extrusion die comprises at least one product channel for receiving and extruding the plurality of materi- als.
• the cutting assembly comprises at least one groove and a wire attached through the groove.
• the feed system is removably attached to the extruder and the cutting assembly is located at a position to cut the extruded plurality of materials with the wire moving in a substantially vertical motion from the extrusion die.
• Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention.
• Fig. 2 is a perspective view of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention.
• Fig. 3 is a perspective view of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention.
• Fig. 4 is a perspective view of an extruder assembly and a wire cutting assembly according to an embodiment of the invention.
• Fig. 5 is a bottom view of an extruder assembly and a wire cutting assembly according to an embodiment of the invention
• Fig. 6A is a front view of an extruder assembly and a wire cutting assembly according to an embodiment of the invention.
• Fig. 6B is a front view of an extruder assembly and a wire cutting assembly according to an embodiment of the invention.
• Fig. 6C is a front view of an extruder assembly and a wire cutting assembly according to an embodiment of the invention.
• Fig. 6D is a front view of an extruder assembly and a wire cutting assembly according to an embodiment of the invention.
• the present invention is designed to accurately produce a diverse array of food products, including but not limited to cookies that may contain any combination of creams, jellies, caramels, chocolates, and aerated creams such as marshmallow, whipped cream, and ice cream.
• Embodiments of the present invention are further capable of extrusion of single or double masses in co- extrusion and triple-extrusion.
• the widths of the extruded food products in various embodiments of the invention may include widths of 800 mm, 1000 mm, 1200 mm, and 1500 mm.
• the present invention allows the use of multiple product lanes, permitting virtually any variety of products to be produced.
• any number of lanes of product may be produced.
• it is not necessary to replace an expensive pump housing as the stencil-die may be changed within minutes by qualified technicians.
• the present invention is gentle to the product. Even masses containing large particles may be successfully pumped.
• the complete extruder, including the pump system, may be thoroughly jacketed, providing complete temperature control of any masses used. Through double or triple extrusion, it is even possible to use different temperatures at each pump (e.g., cooling when using chocolate chip dough and/or heating to an exact temperature when using caramel or creams).
• the range of food products that may be produced with the present invention includes but is not limited to the following:
• Extruded product double mass e.g., fruit or fig bars
• Figure 1 overviews an embodiment of the present invention.
• the primary components of the embodiment are a standard extruder assembly 102 containing the extrusion system of the present invention, a wire cutting assembly 104 for cutting extruded product, and an input feed system 106 for feeding product into the extruder 102, which in this embodiment is a system of open hoppers with driven feed rolls 108.
• the embodiment of Figure 1 is further equipped with a pivot stand 110 to support the machine and a jack 112 enabling the machine itself to be raised or lowered.
• Figure 1 depicts a machine equipped for two-color extrusion, although the present invention is not limited to two-color extrusion.
• Figures 2 and 3 depict the adaptability of the present invention to different types of food manufacturing.
• Figure 2 shows the same apparatus as depicted in Figure 1 except that the input feed system 106 has been replaced with stainless steel open hoppers 202 instead of open hoppers with driven feed rolls.
• the stainless steel open hoppers 202 may be useful in manufacturing where the inputted materials' temperatures must be regulated.
• Figure 3 shows another variation of Figure 1 , wherein the input feed system 106 is comprised of closed manifolds 302, which may be useful for feeding aerated creams such as whipped creams and ice cream.
• the extruder assembly 102 of the present embodiment is shown detached from the wire cutting assembly 104.
• Figure 4 shows in more detail additional components of the present embodiment, including extruder pumps 402 (two, in this embodiment), a ro- tating extruder die 404, and a quick disconnect mechanism 406 for disconnecting the rotating extruder die 404, all located on the extruder assembly 102.
• the extruder pumps 406 serve to pump product into the extruder die 404.
• the wire cutting assembly 104 of this embodiment contains a harp 408 with a plurality of grooves 410 with a wire 412 running across the grooves 410 for the length of the harp 408.
• the wire cutting assembly 104 is easily removable from the rest of the apparatus.
• Servo drives and gear boxes 414 provide for precision control of the component parts of the present invention, including but not limited to the extruder pumps 402, the wire cutting assembly 104, and the extruder die 404.
• safety ribs 416 supply an extra layer of protection between the input feed system and the moving parts of the present invention.
• the wire cutting assembly 104 is equipped with an adjust- ment mechanism 502 to advance or retard the wire position of the wire assembly 104.
• Figure 5 further shows a detailed view of the rotating extruder die 404. Shown for two-color extrusion, two product channels 504 and 506 for receiving product are present on the rotating extruder die 404.
• a first advantage of an embodiment of the present invention is that one standard extruder assembly 102 may be provided with a diverse array of primary feed systems, making the system available for a wide range of products.
• a variety of primary feed systems may be mounted on single extruder assembly 102.
• the primary feed system may be quickly changed.
• stainless steel hoppers which are completely jacketed may be utilized, providing for accurate temperature controls.
• Such an embodiment is shown in Figure 2.
• one or more hoppers may be simply replaced by a feeding manifold, providing a consistent supply to the pump system of the product while guaranteeing a high level of accuracy, such as shown in Figure 3.
• stainless steel jacketed hoppers may be provided with wide-diameter electro- servo driven feed rollers in order to help provide consistent feed to the pump system.
• Figure 1 shows an embodiment with driven feed rolls 110.
• a second advantage of an embodiment of the present invention is that the lobes in the extruder pumps 402 are single profile and of full machine width. As shown in Figure 5, no intermediate bearings, plates, or other obstacles are used, keeping the extruder pumps 402 completely free for any number or position of nozzles. As a result, the entire width of the machine may be used for the extrusion of slabs of product.
• a third advantage of an embodiment of the present invention is that, for low speed depositing, wire cutting, and the continuous production of extruded product, the product may be dropped onto a belt or directly onto an oven band.
• the extrusion system of the present invention is designed to be used at an exceptionally high pacing speed. Moving a complete extruder assembly 102 is possible, but due to the substantial weight of the extruder (including cables, feeding tubes, etc.), it is severely limited in speed and causes several critical maintenance points. Additionally, it is often difficult to cover all of the moving parts of a complete moving machine, creating numerous safety concerns around the machine. Instead, the extrusion system of the present invention employs a pacing stencil die. With reference to Figure 1 , the complete machine may be placed on a pivot stand 106, allowing the extruder die 404 shown in Figure 5 to follow the band or belt at a precisely controlled and reciprocating rotating speed for the desired deposits.
• Figure 6 illustrates the pacing extruder die 404, as applied to two-color extrusion.
• the extruder die 404 begins in a "dwell" position depicted in Figure 6A, having already had product pumped into it by the two extruder pumps 402.
• the wire 412 meanwhile moves up in a substantially vertical motion into cutting position.
• substantially vertical motion shall mean the movement of an object in a vertical motion with negligible to no movement in any other direction.
• the extruder die 404 rotates forward at a programmed velocity, the speed adaptable to a speed of production by means of the drives and gearboxes 414. As the extruder die 404 rotates, the extruded product is cut by the stationary wire 412.
• the complete extruder may be pivoted up to 450, giving ample access to the bottom of the unit for sanitation or maintenance.
• the use of this ad- justment is not required to control the height of an oven band and take advantage of accurate depositing or extruding.
• a fourth advantage of an embodiment of the present invention is that, as demonstrated in the discussion of the third advantage, wire cutting requires only slight vertical movement, and negligible to no horizontal movement, of the wire 412 on the wire cutting assembly 104.
• the need for horizontal movement is eliminated because of the rotating motion of the pacing extruder die 404.
• the upward vertical movement puts the wire in position to cut as the extruder die 404 rotates and the downward vertical motion frees the wire from the dough when the wire cutting is complete.
• the wire 412 of the wire cutting assembly 104 may be electro-servo controlled. Consequently, the simplicity of the vertical motion facilitates rapid cutting speeds. Further, within a few minutes, both the harp 408 (to which the wire 412 is attached) and the complete wire-cut assembly 104 (including the motor drive) may be removed from the machine.
• a fifth advantage of an embodiment of the present invention is that the pump body 402 is constructed from segments and assembled in a unique and sanitary manner. Moreover, by using standard components, machines of any required width may be efficiently assembled. It is thus believed that the operation and construction of various embodiments of the present invention will be apparent from the foregoing description. It will be obvious that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing form the spirit and scope of the present invention.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Food Science & Technology (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Polymers & Plastics (AREA)
• Formation And Processing Of Food Products (AREA)
• Manufacturing And Processing Devices For Dough (AREA)
• Confectionery (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

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Cited By (1)

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• 2008
  • 2008-10-06 US US12/287,131 patent/US8621989B2/en active Active
• 2009
  • 2009-10-06 EP EP09736828A patent/EP2330912A2/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2009-10-06 CN CN2009801403416A patent/CN102202513A/zh active Pending
  • 2009-10-06 WO PCT/EP2009/007173 patent/WO2010040504A2/en active Application Filing

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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